Wichita eagle., 1887-08-28
HOW TO CHARM SNAKES.
THE ART OF HANDLING REPTILES
EXPLAINED BY A VETERAN.

No Drugs nor Mesmerism Needed in the
Business-Only q Few Women with
Nerve Enough to Undertake the Pro-
fession-The Demand. ~
u have been in the snake business about
thirty years." said Mr.. Donald Burns, sand
have handled 10, 900 snakes, but 1 never saw
one before as large as this. I shouldn't care
to handle that fellow alone"
GWhat does it cost woman to learn to be
Q snake charmer?"
1Well, from $500 to $500, according to how
rapidly they learn. This, of course, includes
the whole thing, not only how to handle the
snakes, but also to do different tricks with
them, which are all combined in what is
known as the snake act This consists in
making a cap or turban Of the snake and
putting it on the head; making sash of one
by arranging it around the body; belt by
placing it around the waist, or a pair Of
wristlets of small snakes. The act also in
cludes putting all these on the person at one
time, so that the body is covered with snakes,
eight or nine of them at time. When COW
cred with them in this way the woman sup
ports about 200 pounds of snakes and can
scarcely walk"
allow many women snake charmers are
thereg"
"Only three in this country who can do the
snake act They are Miss Arlington, whom
finished teaching last week; Zala De Manti,
now in Boston, and another. Miss Arlington
learned in four weeks. Her husband is con-
nected with Barnum's, and as she wanted to
travel with the show and earn something she
came here to learn to handle snakes. She
can do the full act now that commands 500
a week She is only % years old and was
very timid at first, for she never had a snake
in her hand in her life. First 1 teach them
all about the life and habits of the snakes.
There is a great deal in knowing the ture
of snakes, particularly the position they get
in when they are about to strike. After they
strike once they never get ever it. When
they once bite you they will try to do it again
every chance they get.
NO DRUGS NEEDED
mo, we don't give them any drug nor rub
them quiet beforehand, as many people sup
pose. All that is necessary is to show them
that you are not afraid Of them. So, after
the woman gets confidence III her work she
can get along all right. ! get the snake
teach them with under control and then al
low the woman to begin to handle it. You
see, snakes have brains as well as other ami
mails. They never close their eyes and watch
all the time.
after l put the snake in the woman's
hand, then l point out what positions the
snake must be in and what position the wo-
man must be in to lift and handle it. Why,
If you know how, when a snake is even in a
striking attitude you can lift it up and not be
bitten. A popularity of the snakes is that
they take more naturally to q woman than
to man. The women become very fond of
them, too. They make regular pets of them
and give them names. One of the women 1
trained has got snake that is SO fond of her
that it will of its own accord put its head up
and kiss her whenever she comes close to it.
That snake is about ten feet long. The young
woman | just trained bought nine snakes
When performing with them she wears an
Oriental costume of soft goods. The COM
plete cost of a woman snake charmer's outfit
is about $500. They have to buy the snakes,
costume, wire fences in which to perform,
cages, blankets to keep the snakes warm, and
peculiar kind of jugs to keep warm water in
to keep them warm. You see, the cold
weather kills off the snakes very quickly if
owner can't afford to lose them. They must
Be given warm bath every week, too. They
battle themselves and at the same time gen.
orally drink some of the water. For feed you
want to give them live rabbits, Guinea pigs
| and chickens. But they must do their own
killing or they won't eat. A peculiar fact
about them is that they only cat when they
cast their coat, which is about three times a
that without eating. / had one that went
without food six months, but this is rare.
DEMAND FOR SNAKES.
aThe cost of the snakes varies from $35 to
| $50 and $500 apiece, and in weight they run
| from 100 pounds down to thirty, ten and even
| Eve pounds. Ali this talk about feeding a
| snake to make it tame and easy to handle is
| nonsense. They are simply like any other
| wild animal. In charming them We use no
mesmerism or anything of the kind; it's only
| to make them know that you are master, to
| go at them without fear. No, it's not every
woman who can be a snake charmer. AS a
rule they don't have patience enough. The
great point is to get a woman to have conf
dence that they won't bite her, and to make
her understand that if she is bitten the bite
won't prove fatal. Phi tell you how taught
one woman to get over her fear. The first
snake got her to handle was bad one, and
l intended it should bite her. 1t did, on the
hand. and of course she was scared. But the
bite healed all right, and after that she wasn't
afraid again The bite of these snakes is of
course, to a certain extent poisonous but not
| fatally so. If you know how to treat the
wound it viii heal all right.
| "Ali that we use in the snake act are boas,
more commonly known as pythons. We get
| them from India and South America. The
| best for performing purposes come from
| South America. | have man in Brazil
| who buvs the snakes Of the Indians. The
| Indians catch them in bamboo nets and trade
| them for articles to wear, food and money.
| | get about 500 snakes year from him,
| some years as many as 400, and sell them to
snake charmers, museums, menageries and
geological gardens. Yes, the demand for
them keeps up, because their average life Is
not over two or three years. But | have
known them to live longer than that, and
knew one to live ten years here. OF course
their dying makes the business expensive to
the regular snake charmer. for she mus,
have a number always on hand, and she has
TO buy them herself. You see it is different
with them than with the women vino claim
| to be snake charmers and who appear al
cheap shows with only one snake. Thess
women do only one trick, and AL the while
they are doing it they don't dare let go tht
snakes head They ara afraid of it and SC
are not professionals. But take this young
woman l just taught and she can pick uI
| snakes fresh from Brazil and handle then
ell night New York Mail and Express
Lingering Superstitions.
II am not superstitious," said a prominen
| Paul tho NJ bar gnut